Ryu Hankil’s solo improvisation at Echoraum from Balloon & Needle on Vimeo. I attended a seminar on Kafka and Philosophy on Thursday (which I will write more about in posts this week) which culminated in an amazing hour-long lecture by Henry Sussman, Visiting Professor of Germanic Languages from Yale university. I found the day enormously stimulating, but […]
Author Archives: lisathatcher
Volver – Pedro Almodovar blurrs the boundaries between life and death.
posted by lisathatcher
If Volver is anything, it is a triumphant celebration of life and the breathy, heaving joys in humanity. Volver (from the Spanish “to come back”) is a 2006 Spanish thriller style film writtern and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Headed by actress Penélope Cruz, the film features an ensemble cast starring Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo,Yohana Cobo, and Chus Lampreave. Revolving around an […]
Tronics: Love Backed by force – Early 80’s post-punk DIY.
posted by lisathatcher
Tronics were a post-punk band from London, fronted by Ziro Baby (more recently known as Zarjaz). Between 1979 and 1984 Tronics released four singles, a cassette, an LP and a flexi-disc. A brief flirtation with the “mainstream” indie scene culminated with a single on the Creation label. The band started in 1977 as a fairly standard thrash/punk outfit called […]
Wire’s 100 Records that set the world on fire while no one was listening. 31 – 35
posted by lisathatcher
This post is part of a series. You can see the previous post here. We’re moving into the 1970’s now with this wonderful list. We’re bleeding into the very tip of the 70’s and stretching ourselves to some far out places. If the 1960’s were groovy, then the 1970’s were highly experimental. I didn’t really […]
Persona: Bergman’s film of obsession and control.
posted by lisathatcher
Never in my life have I responded so powerfully to a film as I did when I first watched Persona. Even Vivre Sa Vie (currently my favorite film of all those I have seen) didn’t move me in the same way Persona did. I found Persona shocking. At the same time I was flawed by […]
Creel Pone #4: Take me to Electronic Heaven
posted by lisathatcher
This post is part of a series. Read the earlier posts for more on Creel Pone. My Creel Pone post is a real treat this week. I actually wrote this one on the back of the other because the music was too exciting to leave for a few weeks. We have 100 (or so) albums […]
Amulet – Roberto Bolaño scatters the personalities of Mexican poetry.
posted by lisathatcher
This is going to be a horror story. A story of murder, detection and horror. But it won’t appear to be, for the simple reason that I am the teller. Told by me, it won’t seem like that. Although, in fact, it’s the story of a terrible crime. I am a friend to all Mexicans. […]
The Hour of the Wolf: The decent into madness at Bergman’s behest.
posted by lisathatcher
“It is the hour when most people die, when sleep is deepest, when nightmares are more real. It is the hour when the sleepless are haunted by their deepest fear, when ghosts and demons are most powerful. The Hour of the Wolf is also the hour when most children are born.” I watched Bergman’s The Hour of […]
Keith Rowe and John Tilbury: E.E. Tension and Circumstance – A concert I wish I hadn’t missed.
posted by lisathatcher
` I’m new to the world of Keith Rowe and John Tilbury, so my initial connection to them both was to listen to excerpts of this album (I don’t have the album yet) from the Dusted review (written by Bill Meyer) and the review by Richard Pinnell on his (incredibly excellent) blog The Watchful Ear about the […]
The Valley of the Bees – František Vláčil tells a tale of obsessive horror.
posted by lisathatcher
In a survey of Czech film critics held in 1998 František Vláčil‘s film Marketa Lazarova (I’ll be watching this in the next 8 days) as teh best Czech film ever made and its director recieved a lifetime achievement awarded at the Karlovy Vary film festival in the same year. Údolí včel (The Valley of the Bees) was […]
Lisa Thatcher 